Distribution –
An important connection to your membersJUNE: Linda Halley describes the system of
distributing share boxes each week that has worked well for them
over the last 11 years . . . with some tweaking.

By Linda Halley, Harmony Valley Farm

Farm-at-a-Glance

Harmony Valley Farm
Viroqua, Wisconsin

Location: About
90 miles northwest of Madison and about 30 miles south
of La Crosse

Years farming: Since
1973

Total acres: 75
(approx. one acre per crop)

Crops: Over
60 berries and vegetables, from wild leeks and celery
root to raspberries and pumpkins.

Season: Start
harvesting in April, finish in early November. CSA deliveries
start the first Saturday in May, and extend into December.

"It became apparent early on that our
packing system of identical boxes had huge benefits in efficiency,
but created some frustration on the part of members. The innocent
herb, cilantro, became the first focus of frustration. It tends
to inspire passion, both positive and negative."

" If boxes remain unclaimed, they get
delivered to a food pantry, distributed to interested or needy
neighbors or taken to church the next day, depending on the
coordinator’s situation. "

June 23, 2003:
Here at Harmony Valley we take delivery of our share boxes very
seriously. We know that the delivery point (or pick up point) is
the last moment our produce is in our hands. We want to make sure
that everything up to and including that point is done well to maximize
the quality of the produce and the quality of the CSA experience
for the members.

Choosing a distribution system

Eleven years ago, when we were just venturing into CSA with our
first 35 members we held a pre-season meeting and invited their
input. Would they like a “farmers’ market” style
delivery, or an “already packed” set up? After describing
how both would work there was strong preference for everyone receiving
an identical, pre-packed box. It seemed fair and satisfied the urge
for “quick and easy.”

Without any previous experience to draw from (neither members
nor farmers knew anyone personally who had participated in CSA before)
the market style, pack-it-yourself option seemed fraught with uncertainty.
What if the carrots were gone when the last members arrived? What
if there were lots of leftovers at the end? Simple, straight forward,
packaged shares held appeal for farmer and shareholder alike.

Beyond that, we decided to pack into standard waxed produce boxes
instead of quaint baskets or environmentally friendly canvas bags.
We looked to the future, daring to imagine more members, and realized
stacking was going to be essential. We already had a source for
such boxes and maintained several different sizes in inventory all
season long for our wholesale sales.

We also resisted the urge, right up front, to name or code each
box to a specific member, or to tailor each box with personal preferences.
Once again, we were imagining how this whole new program would work
if we grew beyond our handful of pioneer members.

Revelations

It became apparent early on that our packing system of identical
boxes had huge benefits in efficiency, but created some frustration
on the part of members. The innocent herb, cilantro, became the
first focus of frustration. It tends to inspire passion, both positive
and negative. A member told us she didn’t even want the evil
smelling bunch in her kitchen.

We set to devising a creative solution that would allow a member
to remove the offender from their box without wasting it; hence,
the birth of the “swap box.” I don’t doubt that
many other CSA farmers have thought this system up out of necessity.
At Harmony Valley, a member who doesn’t want an item contributes
it to the swap box. Other members may help themselves to anything
that has been left behind in the box.

The “swap box” led us to another revelation. Consistently,
herbs, bunched greens and some less common vegetables were contributed
more often than anything else. To find out if it was a problem,
or if the swap box was meeting the intended need, we asked the experts,
our members.

We discovered that some members perceived a contribution to the
swap box as paying for something they didn't want. I suppose, if
they took out as much as they put in, it would have been different,
but contributors to the swap box tended to be less flexible about
what they ate and less adventuresome, liking mostly common vegetables
that rarely found their way into the swap box.

We began to deliver the most frequently swapped types of items
on the side to be added to the share box if the member so choose.
We christened it “The Choice Box.” Generally it contains
enough of a single item (like cilantro) for about 2/3 of the members
at a delivery site to take some. Now the perception was one of getting
something extra, rather than giving something away.

Ten years later

After more than a decade of experience, our delivery system of
pre-packed, returnable waxed boxes and choice and swap boxes on
the side, has remained very much the same. Small but important improvements,
of course, helped tweak the system. They include:

Consistent layout of delivery site each week

Lots of clear signage

A table for distribution of newsletters

A notebook for communication between members, farmers and site
hosts

These improvements are necessary because the site is mostly self-service.
We deliver most of our 440 vegetable boxes to 12 sites on Saturday
mornings in a city 2 ½ hours from our farm. To make that
happen we have to be efficient and organized.

Richard or I run our route with the help of two CSA member volunteers
each week. We drop off the boxes, set up signs and supplies, pick
up the flattened, returned empties left from the week before, and
move on. Then members have several hours in which to drop by and
pick up their share.

We find that a clean garage provided by a CSA member family is
an ideal site. The first week or two of the season, the site host,
or coordinator, meets and greets the members, passes out a letter
of welcome containing any special rules that may apply to their
site, and runs new members through the pick up process. After that
they do not have to “tend” the site during pick up hours.

At 5 p.m. they close down the door and, if there are unclaimed
boxes, make reminder calls to members who may have forgotten. They
refer to a check off list to determine which members haven’t
yet picked up. If boxes remain unclaimed, they get delivered to
a food pantry, distributed to interested or needy neighbors or taken
to church the next day, depending on the coordinator’s situation.

Finally, sometime during the weekend they e-mail us a report about
the delivery results. We especially like to know if the choice box
seemed adequate or excessive, and about problems that may have come
up. In return for all their help and the use of their garage weekly,
we reduce the cost of their weekly CSA share by $10 per box picked
up at their site, or up to half a weekly share value.

As a precaution against mistakes, we leave a couple extra CSA boxes
in town at different site locations for the first few weeks. All
the site coordinators know where the boxes have been left and are
prepared to direct a member to them if a shortage occurs at their
site.

Our feeling is that we need to do whatever we can to assure that
a member who deserves a share receives a share, no matter the cause,
be it our mistake or a mistake caused by another member. Once we
are back at the farm, 100 miles away, it is impractical to get produce
back to town to correct a problem.

Pros and Cons

Our method of delivery would not be practical or desirable for
all farms or situations, but it has worked incredibly well for us
over quite a period of time. The best parts are:

Efficiency of delivery:
A 4-1/2 to 5 hour route, with 400 boxes, covers the whole city
of Madison and an outlying community. Drive time to the city and
back adds another 5-1/2 hours though.

Maintenance of quality of the
produce: Delivered cold, and enclosed in the wax produce
box in the shade, the contents remain cool for hours.

Ease of accuracy in quantity
delivered: All of the above allow us to be reliable,
timely, consistently high-quality.

Shortcomings in this system:

Lack of member to farmer contact:
However, we really have a great opportunity for contact and interaction
with the member volunteers who help us deliver--two different
members each week means we see about 60 members per season.

Limited individualization of
the share: Variety is fairly adequately addressed with
the choice box. We haven’t solved the problem of some members
feeling like they got too much and some feeling like it wasn’t
quite enough. In recognition that some households are small and
not everyone can find a satisfactory household to share with,
we offer an every-other-week option. It has been well received
and hasn’t caused us to pull out our hair making the logistics
work.

What ever distribution system you settle on for your farm, be
sure that it best helps you meet your goals and speaks to your philosophy.